Objective: To investigate the impact of gender and age on in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events of patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods: This is a retrospective single-center study. A total of consecutive 1 102 patients with acute STEMI admitted to our hospital from January 2001 to December 2010 were recruited and clinical data were analyzed. The primary end point was in-hospital death due to any cause, and the secondary end point was in-hospital composite end point including death, re-infarction and stroke. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the risk factors of in hospital death and composite end point. Results: The study population included 283(25.7%(283/1 102)) female patients and female patients were older than male patients ((68.7±11.2)years vs. (59.2±12.5)years, P<0.001). Compared with male patients, less female patients received primary percutaneous coronary intervention (50.9%(144/283) vs. 70.9%(581/819), P<0.001), had higher rates of in hospital death(10.6%(30/283)vs. 6.0%(36/819), P<0.001) and composite endpoint(14.1%(40/283)vs. 7.0%(57/819), P<0.001). Among STEMI patients aged <60 years, no differences were found in in-hospital mortality (1.7%(1/58)vs. 1.4%(6/437)) and composite endpoint(3.6%(3/58)vs. 3.4%(15/437)) rates between female and male patients (both P>0.05). Among STEMI patients aged ≥60 years, female patients had higher in-hospital mortality (12.9%(29/225)vs. 7.9%(30/382), P<0.001), and there was no difference on composite endpoint between female and male patients (16.4%(37/225)vs. 11.0%(42/382), P=0.054). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that female gender was not the independent risk factor of in-hospital death(OR=1.029, 95%CI 0.564-1.877, P=0.926) and composite end point(OR=1.593, 95%CI 0.989-2.566, P=0.055), but age was the independent risk factor of in-hospital death(OR=1.065, 95%CI 1.037-1.094, P<0.001) and composite end point(OR=1.050, 95%CI 1.029-1.071, P<0.001)in STEMI patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis also showed that female was not the independent risk factor of in-hospital death(OR=1.539, 95%CI 0.572-4.142, P=0.394) and composite end point(OR=1.563, 95%CI 0.689-3.546, P=0.285), but age was the independent risk factor of in-hospital death(OR=1.052, 95%CI 1.011-1.096, P=0.013) and composite end point(OR=1.042, 95%CI 1.008-1.077, P=0.016)in STEMI patients received primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Conclusion Female patients with STEMI have higher incidence of in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events than male patients, and age is the independent risk factor of in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events of STEMI patients.

Objective:To investigate the effects of diquat (DQ) on the expression of intestinal pyroptosis-related proteins and tight junction proteins in rats, and to analyze the role of pyroptosis in the intestinal injury of rats with acute DQ poisoning.Methods:A total of 36 Wistar male rats were randomly divided into control group, and 3 hours, 12 hours, 36 hours and 3 days exposure groups, with 6 rats in each group. Each exposure group was given 1/2 median lethal dose (LD50) of 115.5 mg/kg DQ by one-time gavage. The control group was given the same amount of normal saline by gavage. The control group was anesthetized at 3 hours after DQ gavage to take jejunal tissues; each exposure group was anesthetized at 3 hours, 12 hours, 36 hours, and 3 days after DQ gavage to take jejunal tissues, respectively. The general conditions of the rats were recorded. The pathological changes of jejunum tissue were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The expression of intestinal pyroptosis-related proteins [NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), cysteine aspartate-specific protease 1 (caspase-1), Gasdemin D (GSDMD)] in the intestinal tissues was observed by immunohistochemical staining. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of intestinal pyroptosis-related proteins and intestinal tight junction proteins (Occludin and Claudin-1).Results:Light microscopy showed that pathological changes occurred in jejunum tissue at the early stage of exposure (3 hours), and the injury was the most serious in the 12 hours exposure group, with a large number of inflammatory cells infiltrating in the tissue, and the damage was significantly reduced after 3 days exposure. Immunohistochemical results showed that NLRP3, caspase-1 and GSDMD were expressed in the jejunal mucosa of the control group and the exposure groups, and the positive cells in the control group were less expressed with light staining. The expression of the above proteins in the exposed group was increased significantly and the staining was deep. Western blotting results showed that compared with the control group, the expression of NLRP3 protein in jejunum tissues of all groups was increased, with the most significant increase in the 36 hours group (NLRP3/β-actin: 1.47±0.06 vs. 0.43±0.14, P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, the expression of GSDMD protein in the 3 hours, 12 hours and 36 hours exposure groups increased, and the expression of GSDMD protein in the 3 hours and 12 hours exposure groups increased significantly (GSDMD/β-actin: 1.04±0.40, 1.25±0.15 vs. 0.65±0.25, both P < 0.05). The expression of caspase-1 protein was increased in 36 hours exposure group compared with the control group (caspase-1/β-actin: 1.44±0.34 vs. 0.98±0.19, P > 0.05). Compared with the control group, the expression of Occludin and Claudin-1 proteins in each exposure group decreased, and the expression of Occludin proteins was significantly decreased in the 3 hours, 12 hours, and 36 hours exposure groups decreased significantly (Occludin/β-actin: 0.74±0.17, 0.91±0.20, 0.79±0.23 vs. 1.41±0.08, all P < 0.05). Although the protein expression of Claudin-1 decreased in each exposure group, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion:The intestinal injury caused by acute DQ poisoning may be related to the activation of pyroptosis pathway of small intestinal cells and the reduction of the density of intercellular junctions.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the toxicokinetic parameters, absorption characteristics and pathomorphological damage in different parts of the gastrointestinal tract of rats poisoned with different doses of diquat (DQ). METHODS: Ninety-six healthy male Wistar rats were randomly divided into a control group (six rats) and low (115.5 mg/kg), medium (231.0 mg/kg) and high (346.5 mg/kg) dose DQ poisoning groups (thirty rats in each dose group), and then the poisoning groups were randomly divided into 5 subgroups according to the time after exposure (15 minutes and 1, 3, 12, 36 hours; six rats in each subgroup). All rats in the exposure groups were given a single dose of DQ by gavage. Rats in the control group was given the same amount of saline by gavage. The general condition of the rats was recorded. Blood was collected from the inner canthus of the eye at 3 time points in each subgroup, and rats were sacrificed after the third blood collection to obtain gastrointestinal specimens. DQ concentrations in plasma and tissues were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (UPHLC-MS), and the toxic concentration-time curves were plotted to calculate the toxicokinetic parameters; the morphological structure of the intestine was observed under light microscopy, and the villi height and crypt depth were determined and the ratio (V/C) was calculated. RESULTS: DQ was detected in the plasma of the rats in the low, medium and high dose groups 5 minutes after exposure. The time to maximum plasma concentration (Tmax) was (0.85±0.22), (0.75±0.25) and (0.25±0.00) hours, respectively. The trend of plasma DQ concentration over time was similar in the three dose groups, but the plasma DQ concentration increased again at 36 hours in the high dose group. In terms of DQ concentration in gastrointestinal tissues, the highest concentrations of DQ were found in the stomach and small intestine from 15 minutes to 1 hour and in the colon at 3 hours. By 36 hours after poisoning, the concentrations of DQ in all parts of the stomach and intestine in the low and medium dose groups had decreased to lower levels. Gastrointestinal tissue (except jejunum) DQ concentrations in the high dose group tended to increase from 12 hours. Higher doses of DQ were still detectable [gastric, duodenal, ileal and colonic DQ concentrations of 6 400.0 (1 232.5), 4 889.0 (6 070.5), 10 300.0 (3 565.0) and 1 835.0 (202.5) mg/kg respectively]. Light microscopic observation of morphological and histopathological changes in the intestine shows that acute damage to the stomach, duodenum and jejunum of rats was observed 15 minutes after each dose of DQ, pathological lesions were observed in the ileum and colon 1 hour after exposure, the most severe gastrointestinal injury occurred at 12 hours, significant reduction in villi height, significant increase in crypt depth and lowest V/C ratio in all segments of the small intestine, damage begins to diminish by 36-hour post-intoxication. At the same time, morphological and histopathological damage to the intestine of rats at all time points increased significantly with increasing doses of the toxin. CONCLUSIONS The absorption of DQ in the digestive tract is rapid, and all segments of the gastrointestinal tract may absorb DQ. The toxicokinetics of DQ-tainted rats at different times and doses have different characteristics. In terms of timing, gastrointestinal damage was seen at 15 minutes after DQ, and began to diminish at 36 hours. In terms of dose, Tmax was advanced with the increase of dose and the peak time was shorter. The damage to the digestive system of DQ is closely related to the dose and retention time of the poison exposure.
Animals ; Male ; Rats ; Diquat/toxicity* ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Intestines ; Poisons ; Rats, Wistar ; Toxicokinetics

Objective To analyze the prognosis and influencing factors of patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI)complicated with cardiogenic shock(CS)under extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO)support.Methods Retrospective analysis of the clinical data of ECMO supported coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI)treatment for AMI complicated with CS patients who visited the department of emergency medicine of the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University from December 2018 to December 2021,including gender,age,body mass index(BMI),past history(smoking history,coronary heart disease,diabetes,hypertension,hyperlipidemia,cerebrovascular disease),acute physiological and chronic health evaluationⅡ(APACHEⅡ),vasoactive-inotropic score(VIS),the worst auxiliary examination indicators within 24 hours before ECMO[arterial lactate acid,white blood cell count(WBC),cardiac troponin I(cTnI),alanine transferase(ALT),total bilirubin(TBil),creatinine(Cr),serum potassium(K+),left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF)],time from onset to PCI,coronary angiography results(involved anterior descending branch,circumflex branch,right coronary artery,three-vessel lesions,left main artery lesions),whether to use intra aortic-balloon counterpulsation(IABP)and continuous renal replacement therapy(CRRT).Patients were divided into survival and death groups based on the prognosis after 30 days of onset.Univariate analysis was used to compare the differences in the above indicators between the two groups with different prognoses,Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of AMI patients with CS under ECMO support coronary angiography and PCI treatment,and the receiver operator characteristic curve(ROC curve)was drawn to evaluate the predictive value of risk factors on patient prognosis.Results Out of 39 patients,21 cases(53.8%)survived and 18 cases(46.2%)died.Compared with the survival group,the VIS score,lactate acid,time from onset to PCI,involvement of the circumflex artery,three-vessel disease,and left main artery lesions significantly increased in the death group(all P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that lactate acid and three-vessel lesions were independent risk factors affecting the 30-day prognosis of AMI patients with CS[odds ratio(OR)and 95%confidence interval(95%CI)were 1.845(1.018-3.342)and 107.171(1.307-8 785.901),all P＜0.05].ROC curve analysis showed that lactate acid and three-vessel lesions has predictive value for the prognosis of AMI combined with CS patients undergoing ECMO supported coronary angiography and PCI treatment,the area under the ROC curve(AUC)were 0.756 and 0.752,95%CI were 0.601-0.911 and 0.588-0.916,P value were 0.007 and 0.008.When the cut-off value of lactic acid was 5 mmol/L,the sensitivity and specificity of predicting the prognosis of AMI combined with CS patients undergoing coronary angiography and PCI treatment were 94.1%and 57.1%,respectively.Conclusions The indications for using ECMO in critically ill patients with AMI combined with CS need to be further refined.VIS score,lactate acid,time from onset to PCI,three-vessel lesions,and left main artery lesions are risk factors for patient death.When using ECMO support for high lactate,high VIS score,and three-vessel lesions,caution should be exercised.Early ECMO support can improve the prognosis of appropriate patients by reducing lactate,reducing the use of vasoactive drugs,and shortening the time from onset to PCI.

Objective: To explore the occurrence of oxidative stress and antioxidases expression in diaphragm of severely burned rats, so that the mechanism of respiratory muscle atrophy and dysfunction post-burn injury will be further clarified. Methods: Eighty male Wistar rats (aged 7 to 8 weeks) were divided into sham injury group and burn injury group according to the random number table, with 40 rats in each group. Rats in burn injury group were inflicted with 50% total body surface area full-thickness scald (hereinafter referred to as burn) on the back and abdomen by immersing into 80 ℃ water for 15 s and 8 s respectively. Immediately after injury, 40 mL/kg normal saline was injected through abdomen for resuscitation, and the wounds were treated with iodine. Except for immersing into 37 ℃ warm water and no resuscitation, the other treatments of rats in sham injury group were the same as those of burn injury group. Whole diaphragms of 8 rats per time point per group were collected after anesthesia at post injury hour (PIH) 2 and on post injury day (PID) 1, 3, 7, and 14, and muscle mass was determined. The protein carbonyl content was determined by microplate reader. The protein expressions of catalase, superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), and glutathione peroxidase 1 were determined by Western blotting. Data were processed with analysis of variance of factorial design, t test, and Bonferroni correction. Results: (1) There were no statistically significant differences in the diaphragm mass of rats between the 2 groups at PIH 2 and on PID 1 (t=0.453, 0.755, P>0.05). The diaphragm mass of rats in burn injury group started to decrease from PID 3, which was significantly lower than that of sham injury group (t=3.321, P<0.01). The diaphragm mass of rats in burn injury group started to increase from PID 7 to PID 14, which was significantly lower than that of sham injury group (t=4.622, 4.380, P<0.01). (2) Protein carbonyl content in diaphragm of rats in burn injury group at PIH 2, and on PID 1, 3, 7, and 14 [(2.7±0.3), (2.5±0.5), (2.4±0.4), (2.5±0.4), (3.2±0.6) pg/mL] was significantly higher than that of sham injury group respectively [(1.2±0.4), (1.6±0.3), (1.5±0.7), (1.7±0.3), (1.8±0.4) pg/mL, t=5.994, 3.263, 3.666, 3.158, 5.763, P<0.05 or P<0.01]. (3) Protein expressions of catalase in diaphragm of rats in burn injury group on PID 1 and 3 were close to those of sham injury group (t=0.339, 0.324, P>0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in protein expressions of SOD2 in diaphragm of rats between the 2 groups at PIH 2 and on PID 1, 3, 7, and 14 (t=1.446, 1.385, 0.757, 1.561, 0.531, P>0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in protein expressions of glutathione peroxidase 1 in diaphragm of rats in the 2 groups at PIH 2 and on PID 1, 3, and 7 (t=0.200, 0.729, 0.385, 1.559, P>0.05). Conclusions Continuous oxidative stress and relatively insufficient expression of antioxidases in diaphragm induced by burn injury could be a contributor to diaphragm atrophy.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of different doses of acetamide on the histopathology in the cerebral cortex of rats with tetramine (TET) poisoning and to provide a basis for the treatment of fluoroacetamide poisoning with acetamide.

METHODSEighty clean Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: saline control group,dimethylsulfoxide water solution control group,TET poisoning group, acetamide (2.88 g/kg/d) treatment group, and acetamide (5.68 g/kg/d) treatment group, with 16 rats in each group. Rats in the poisoning group and treatment groups were poisoned with TET by intragastric administration after fasting; then, saline was injected intramuscularly into rats of the poisoning group, and different doses of acetamide were injected intramuscularly into rats of treatment groups; the course of treatment was 5 d. At 3 h, 12 h, 48 h, and 7 d after treatment, the cerebral cortex was harvested from rats in each group, and the histopathological changes in the cerebral cortex were evaluated under light and electron microscopes.

RESULTSThe light microscopy showed that the TET poisoning group had hypoxia changes in the cerebral cortex, which worsened over time; the treatment groups had reduced hypoxia changes, and the acetamide (2.88 g/kg/d) treatment group had more reduction than the acetamide (5.68 g/kg/d) treatment group. The electron microscopy showed that the apoptosis of neuronal cells were the main pathological changes in the TET poisoning group; the treatment groups had reduced apoptotic changes, and the acetamide (2.88 g/kg/d) treatment group had more reduction than the acetamide (5.68 g/kg/d) treatment group.

CONCLUSIONNo pathological changes associated with the synergistic toxic effect of acetamide and TET are found in the cerebral cortex. Acetamide (2.88 g/kg/d) could reduce central nervous lesions, but the efficacy is not improved after increasing the dose. For patients who cannot be identified with TET or fluoroacetamide poisoning, acetamide could be considered for treatment.

Acetamides ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Bridged-Ring Compounds ; toxicity ; Cerebral Cortex ; drug effects ; pathology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley